Like No One Ever Was

With a grunt, I managed to shove the last toy into the box, the container practically bursting at the seems(but all the toys placed in such a way that wouldn’t damage any of them, of course), before closing the lid shut. Then I began pushing it over to the corner of the room where my little kiddie table was.

“Bzzt, are you sure about this?” Rotom asked hovering concernedly over me. Grunting, I pushed the box over to the corner.

“Whew.” I know my stamina still isn’t great, but I can understand being tired at pushing that thing around. It was like a treasure chest full of toys! An adventuring party could easily find 100 gold pieces worth of children’s toys in there. I chuckled to myself before waving off Rotom. “Nevermind just thought of something funny. As to what you were saying, it’s fine. I need to make some space for the new desk that’s coming in today, and it’s not like I’m throwing the toys out or anything.”

That statement was half true; realistically, I could have easily fit the desk into my room and had a corner full of plushies, spin tops, action figures, and more. I’d been hesitant to move, even touch any of them at first. As days passed, I grew to accept my situation, at least enough to start living and interacting with the pieces of Nemona’s life before I remembered everything. Treating everything like a mausoleum had been depressing.

I even tried playing with them. Unfortunately, children’s toys just weren’t that interesting to me anymore. Many were probably just bought on a whim and made of cheap material. I had fleeting memories of her, or maybe better said would be my past self, seeing an add of t.v. or a toy in a stand and asking for it immediately. This is why my room is so full of junk!! Even the better ones just weren’t that fun to play with. Nothing like Lego existed in this world, which was the first time I was actually disappointed with it compared to my previous world.

Grabbing a pen and paper from the small table, I wrote down: ‘Note to self - make Lego’. It joined a pile of other papers I had there. Several other half-formed ideas and plans were there. Stories, some ‘original’ and others adapted from my world were being plotted out. It was difficult as many themes didn’t fit this world or needed adjustment to fit and hopefully one day achieve the same success they had in my world.

Rotom had offered to help, and I did take them up on it a lot, transcribing some of my ideas, but I liked writing. The act of putting pen to paper, or keystrokes to keyboard, helped me better envision what I wanted and was thinking of. This was part of why I was getting a desk, I was writing so much that I needed a place to properly sit down and work.

Looking at my messy table, I started gathering and organizing the different papers into their piles. Mostly it was based on how far developed they were and the like, but there were some personal papers like a journal I’d taken to writing. I never really wrote in journals before outside of school assignments, but I figured this would be good, to look back at once I’d been here for many years (and all signs pointed to me being in this for the long run). It also helped remind me in oblique ways about my future/past meta-knowledge. Of course, I had more direct notes on those things, legends, and myths that I knew to be oh too true, but those papers were hidden away.

Like the locations of the four Treasures of Ruin. The Beads, Tablets, Vessel, and Sword. While I know that others can research them and theoretically find the seals, I don’t believe anyone has yet, much less know where all the stakes are. Admittedly, my memories on the stakes locations are vague, but I also know the requirements for how one could pull them out. You could just take a child to them and have the innocent kid release powerful Darkness on the land. Not that they don’t have an effect already.

I had previously theorized that humans had developed resistance to Psychic powers or Ghostly possession over time, but I have since revised that. While it was likely somewhat true, it was only to the same degree that people in this world were naturally a bit tougher. There were much greater signs of such danger and more stringent laws and countermeasures in other countries. Some professors had theorized that Paldeans were simply more ‘naturally’ resistant to such things, but I had other ideas on the matter. Historical accounts list the old Kings and Queens of often being despots and make allusions to them using Psychic Pokemon to coerce their rivals. But that all ended a thousand years ago. The same time the Treasures were sealed.

It was all conjecture on my part, but Legendary Pokemon had a significant effect on the world around them. Who was to say that even sealed, the four Legendary Dark type Pokemon didn’t have a similar effect on Paldea? Their energies were diffuse, so not enough to stop or even weaken such attacks in battle, but slowly would break down any mental hold a Ghost or Psychic type might establish over a few hours or days.

“What’s ‘Lego’?” Rotom asked, peering down at what I just wrote.

“Oh, It’s an idea I had for some toys. They’re designed in interconnecting colorful plastic bricks of different shapes and sizes so you build them together to make all sorts of structures. Ideally, they’d be sold in pre-designed sets, with instructions on how to make a certain or a couple of different designs. But you could also buy bulk pieces and mix and match pieces from sets to make anything you want!”

“Why are they called ‘Lego’ though, bzzt?” They asked. Ah, right, can’t say it’s knowledge from a toy company from another world.

“Uhh, because they need to be sturdy to connect well, but that also means that the bricks will sometimes get stuck together when you’re trying to disassemble them. So you might yell ‘let go’ alot.”

“I see,” they said in a tone that indicated they very much did not. Still, they added “bzzt, this seems like quite an inventive idea. I look forward to seeing you develop this.” It’s just an idle thought, not sure if I’ll have the time to start a big company like that or anything. But I could ensure that Bioncle lasts longer- no, I have to focus on becoming the Champion!

“Right. Thanks, Rotom.” Then a message sound interrupted both of us. “What was that?” It was unusual for anyone to send me a message, at least beyond Billy or O’Nare occasionally letting me know directly that they wouldn’t be able to make it back home in time for dinner/before my bedtime. If they even remembered to send that. They try to see us every couple of days or so, and I get how their jobs would keep them busy. Still not sure it’s the best for raising kids, no matter how pampered we are. At least they aren’t forcing me to wear the same gaudy outfits they do. Even outside of vacation wear, Billy and O’Nare’s outfits had way too much gold for my tastes.

“Bzzt, it looks like they’re planning on changing your schedule. You’ve been doing so well and flying ahead in your studies that they’re planning on teaching you the same curriculum as the Young Master.” Rotom was beaming while I was internally despairing.

No no no, this is bad. It means I’ll have less time to write in my own notes and plans. Sure, it means I can avoid the dreaded ‘finger painting’, but I was pretty much able to do that already, just asking for a brush whenever given that as part of my ‘studies’. It just caused my tutors to ‘ooh’ and ‘aww’ over how smart I was… which is probably part of why I’m stuck with this! More importantly though, Cyan… My new sister, Cyan, was the one any of the staff referred to as ‘Young Master.’ She was nice enough, but had been getting more and more upset recently, and directly proportional to how much people had begun praising my ‘brilliance’.

She’s quite intelligent and diligent for a ten-year-old. I can totally see how she’d end up taking over for her parents - our parents - in the future. It’s hardly fair for anyone to compare her to me though. But how do I avoid that?

“Hey, Rotom, can we go see Cyan?”

“Hmm bzzt. She is in the middle of her studies right now…”

“Which means it’s perfect for me to see what it’ll be like! C’mon,” I said, quickly moving past any of their concerns and to Cyan’s room. Knocking once, I entered.

Her room was fairly similar to mine. Way too big, a light fixture far too fancy to be in a child’s bedroom, and with a massive bed and walk-in closet. Where it differed was the fact that it had a bunch of bookshelves about three feet high, filled with a variety of books, and on top of which sat her toys. The walls were also painted a light blue, which I thought looked better than the orange in my room. It also had a desk where Cyan was sitting at, having turned to glare at me.

“Nims, what do you want?” She asked, seeming annoyed by my intrusion. She had been hunched over a set of books on mathematics. In my best ‘little sibling’ attitude, I hopped up onto her desk (which was large enough that even with her books spread out it had space and the structural integrity for me to sit on it).

“I wanted to see what you’re doing. Rotom said I’m gonna be studying the same stuff as you are, so I wanted to see it.” Rotom diligently floated up, a look on their ‘face’ that tried to show how they had tried to stop this and how discomforted they were by it all. For just a set of eyes and a mouth, they do a surprisingly good job of it.

“What!?” Cyan shrieked. “How could they think- you’re five!” She said, as if that explained everything. In a way it kinda does, but I just need you to play along a bit.

“Yeah! Ooh, what’s this stuff?” I asked, looking at one of the sheets she’d been working on. It was mostly multiplication or division, but there were a few algebra questions on it too at the bottom.

She snatched the paper out of my hands. “This is far too advanced for you. Do you even know your multiplication tables?”

“Uhh, Rotom, bring up multiplication tables.” I said, doing my best to sound innocent.

“Yes young mis-”

“No! Rotom, stop that!” Cyan yelled, stomping her feet. I noticed she was wearing little white shoes to go with her white sundress today. “That’s cheating.”

Rotom looked torn between the two of us, before eventually something in my expression caused them to turn to Cyan. “Yes, Young Master. I’m sorry Young Miss, but you’ll need to solve these problems on your own.”

“Aww,” I faux pouted for about half a second before perking up again. “Alright, what are the questions?”

Cyan looked a bit dazed at the quick turnabout but quickly recovered. “Fine, if you have seven great balls, and you sell them for seven hundred Pokedollars each, how much will you make? Ah, going for a word question right away to trip me up. 4900 is the answer, but I don’t want to get it right. 7700? 770? Those seem like answers a child would get and be completely wrong… but that might be a bit too suspicious, given they’re only thinking of moving me up so far in the first place because of how smart I’d shown myself to be.

My attempts at ‘disguising’ my intelligence had thus far not gone well… mostly because I gave up trying less than a week in. There was just way too much to learn to hold myself back that much! But I needed to, here. After a minute of seeming deep in thought about the question, I said: “Four hundred and twen- no, four thousand two hundred.”

Rotom looked surprised, while Cyan was gleeful. “Nope! It’s four thousand nine hundred,” she proudly declared. She gave me a few more questions of lesser difficulty. I got some right, but plenty wrong before my sister said “I think this might be a bit much for you. Now quit bothering me so I can get back to work.” Then in a softer tone, she added “We can hang out after, ok?”

“Okie dokie,” I responded cheerfully before heading out. Alright, that’s one problem dealt with-

Rotom waited until outside the hallway to cut into my thoughts. “That was very kind of you, Nemona.”

“H-huh?” I stuttered turning to face the Plasma Pokemon.

“Don’t worry, bzzt. I won’t tell your parents about this.” ‘About the fact that I purposefully failed at answering those questions’. I’m surprised that Rotom saw right through me. “I still think you’ll be moved up to some more advanced material though, if not surpassing Young Master quite yet,” They continued.

Part of me felt bad that I hadn’t been nearly sneaky enough. I knew I’d be different with all these memories in my head, but had hoped that some things would just be brushed off as growing up, or like my working out, be seen as close enough to Nemona’s usual hyperactivity to be waved off. Mostly though, I was just glad to have an ally by my side.

“Thanks, Rotom.”

“Ahem.” We both whipped around to see Cyan glaring at us.

“Ah, Cyan. Uhh, how much of that did you hear-”

“All of it!” She snapped walking angrily towards me. I took a step back, caught between fight-or-flight instincts. “You barely left my room before you started bragging about how you tricked me!”

Tears were starting to well in her eyes and I needed to deflect her anger fast before it spiraled out of control. “You were out of my line of sight! That meant you stopped existing!”

“Wha- No! You have object permanence, I know it!” Sticking out my tongue a bit might have helped her deductions along there. Her rage evaporated (for the moment) and was replaced with exasperation and annoyance, she grabbed me and we wrestled for a moment, as siblings are wont to do.

She was much taller and stronger than me, but I had grappling experience from over two decades of martial arts practice. I didn’t try to use any serious moves (she was just trying to noogie me after all), but even with a better understanding of weight, force, and joint motions, I was just able to avoid getting pinned down too long, not turn the tables on her.

After a minute of that, we were both panting, tired. Damn, I guess low stamina runs in the family. “Hah, hah. How can you be better at this too? It’s not fair.” She whined, and I heard a small sniffle too.

Well, she’s not angry now, but sad isn’t much better. Maybe I can clear things up… without revealing too much of myself. I don’t think she could handle it if she found out I was someone else reincarnated as her sister. Or her sister given all these other memories, or whatever. A part of me also wondered if I was just using that as an excuse because I didn’t want to see how they would react, but I shut that part of me up.

“Can we talk in your room?” I asked. She frowned but nodded, and we walked back inside.

She sat down on her massive four-corner bed, making it clear that despite the vast amount of space on it, there was no room for me. “What do you want? To rub it in my face how much smarter than me you are?” Sullen, but not back to angry, yet at least.

“No, I just… wanted to explain. You’re intelligent too, and you don’t need to compare yourself to me.”

“I don’t know all those stupid little facts that you know!”

“If they’re stupid, why does it matter if I know them?” I countered.

“Argh! Because everyone else thinks that you’re so great, and they’re all looking at you and talking about you. They don’t look at me that way.” Close, but we aren’t at the heart of the issue. I think I need to push a bit to get her to bring them up first though.

“People are dumb. They think that knowing some things are ‘worth’ more than other things.” A nuclear physicist might say that knowledge of Pokemon was frivolous, but how would they fair if they then ended up in this world? “Besides, they’re only acting that way because it’s new. Give it a bit, and they’ll all just take it as fact, be disappointed when I don’t live up to the new expectations they set for me.”

That was something I was actually worried about, and part of why I still wanted to learn so much. I liked living up to expectations, doing the right thing. This was all fake, though. A bit of extra experience and maturity didn’t intrinsically make one a genius, so I have to keep on studying and learning to try and present myself as the genuine article. Though, to be fair, I enjoy learning too. It’s an incredible world here.

“So you say. Mom and Dad are still paying attention to you and not me!” Cyan spat out.

“They’re… honestly they aren’t paying great attention to either of us. They don’t see me any more often than they do you. And they care about you and what you do too! They’d be thrilled to have you running the Rotom Company and the Paldean Realty Group!”

“But what if I don’t want that?! I just want them to, to notice me.” That got her to curl in on herself, tucking her legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees.

I took it as an invitation to sit with her on the bed. “That’s a tough one. They do care for us, but they aren’t the best at noticing… things.” Understatement of the century. “Just try to be yourself and talk to them when you can. I’m sure they’ll appreciate anything you do.”

“Stop showing off then.” My sister grumbled and I huffed in response.

“It’s not like I’m trying to. Honestly didn’t want this in the first place, happier just to try and discover things at my own pace, hoping from topic to topic as I could find them online.” It was hard to just focus on one thing, and I’d find my mind would drift to something else if given a moment. I’d had that problem somewhat in my old life, but it was amped up now, in Nemona’s child-body.

“Try harder,” was Cyan’s unhelpful ‘advice’. She blew the few red strands of hair that had fallen down out of her face and added “I wish I had something super cool that I could show off too. What happened to make you so smart and, and… self-assured.”

“Hey, none of that. You’re plenty smart too.” Not many other 11-year-olds would use ‘self assured’. “As for seeming confident, that’s all it is.” Lowering my voice as if letting her in on a big secret I added “It’s that way for everyone else too. No one really knows it all, some people are just better at pretending than others.”

“What about mom and dad?” She shot back, able to argue back even while feeling down on herself.

“They don’t know everything either, they just… are so good at pretending they fool themselves.” Hope that was a polite enough way to say ‘your parents are kinda idiots.’ Our parents. Shit. When that did not cheer her up, I added “Look, we just have to show them something cool you can do too. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.” Of that, I had no doubt. The Glitterati’s weren’t malicious, just a bit oblivious.

“I can’t do anything better than you, so what’s the point?” She said, her words muffled as she found a pillow on her bed, and was lying face-down on it.

You’re better at guilt tripping than me, I thought but didn’t say. With a sigh, I calmed down and tried to think of something that would help. Getting up, I marched over to her desk, and after a moment of cursing my currently tiny body, climbed up on top of the chair to look at her work.

“You won't find anything special there,” she moaned. In one way, she was correct - her work was quite good but hardly ‘special’. I could spot a few tiny errors in some of her math here and there. But in the margins on her pages, I saw something quite interesting.

“Wait right there, I’ve got something I need to show you.” Without waiting for a response, I rushed into my room, grabbed some of the papers I had sorted, and then ran back. “So, I had this idea for a comic, about a guy who was-”

“Is this just you doing more bragging?” She interrupted me.

“No, I was getting to it. So I had this idea for a superhero comic and- well look at my drawing.” I held out two pages to her. One was her studies with an intricately drawn flower in the corner, while mine was…

“That looks like a fine Magmar to me,” Cyan cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what the problem was.

“Uhh, that’s supposed to be a man in an Ariados themed costume.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. So, I’m not the greatest artist, at all. But I have visions, ideas of stories I want to tell. They could use your help to make them come to life. Can we… can we work together on this?” Can we stop being enemies? Please?

The white-haired girl sat still for a minute before she got up and shook her head. Not in disagreement, but more like she was shaking out all the bad thoughts from before. “Alright, tell me what you want to see. Your ‘vision’.”

“Awesome!” I pumped my fist in the air. “Ok, so Petey Parkour is bitten by a mystical Spinnarak one day, and after feeling sick for a bite, he suddenly finds himself imbued with incredible powers…”

***

“Hey, mom, dad, we have something to show you.” I said before we sat down for dinner. Cyan was standing by my side, looking pretty nervous, but there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Oh? What do you have for us?” O’Nare asked.

Pulling out the comic from behind my back I presented it to them. “Ta da!” It was only a dozen pages long, and she hadn’t had time to color any more than the front page of our first issue of the ‘Amazing Fantasy’ comic, but there were the fruits of our labor.

Billy joined her as they took the papers and started reading through them. They were for one of the first times I’d seen them, completely silent. Cyan’s grip on my hand tightened and she looked about to say something, probably to apologize, but I shook my head. Don’t worry that it’s bad. You did a great job with Spider-Man.

“This. Is. Incredible!!!” Billy and O’Nare exclaimed together.

“We need to put this in a glass case so it never gets damaged!” O’Nare said.

“We need to start a magazine company and start selling this to the world right away!” Billy declared.

They grabbed us both in a big hug as they each made ever prouder declarations, though with different ideas from them. Are they just coming up with a bunch of stuff and bouncing off each other or arguing? Hard to tell, they’re too happy about it.

“No, no, it’s just a first try, we haven’t even got any villains or anything in there yet- it’s not even fully colored!” Cyan rambled. From the way her face was as red as the one non-white lock of hair she had, I could tell she was embarrassed. The wide grin she couldn’t help but keep on her face showed how happy she was, though, and I couldn’t be happier either. Maybe it’s not so bad, being reborn into this family.